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BIBLICAL HISTORY. 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
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Early History, together with an Appendix of Letters 
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BIBLICAL HISTORY 



A LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE OPENING OF THE 

TERM OF THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 

NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 19, 1889 



WITH AN APPENDIX 



BY 



CHARLES AUGUSTUS BRIGGS, D.D. 

DAVENPORT PROFESSOR OF HEBREW AND THE COGNATE LANGUAGES IN THE 
UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEW YORK. 




NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNEB'S SONS 

1889 






COPYRIGHT, 1889, BY 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. 



E. O. JENKINS' SON PRINTER, 

20 N. WILLIAM STREET, 

NEW YORK. 



PREFACE. 



In accordance with the appointment of the Faculty 
of the Union Theological Seminary, New York, I de- 
livered the opening lecture of the term, on Thursday, 
September 19, 1889, before the directors, faculty, stu- 
dents, and friends of the institution. The theme selected 
by me was Biblical History. It was not my intention 
to publish the lecture at present. But the interest 
manifested in the lecture by those who heard it, and by 
others who did not hear it, the large number of requests 
for its publication, and the criticisms upon it in several 
journals, on the basis of an incorrect report, seem to 
require its immediate publication. The address is pub- 
lished exactly as it was delivered. It was prepared for 
the audience to which it was delivered. It presupposes 
some degree of acquaintance with other writings of the 
author, especially of his " Biblical Study." It seemed 
best to print in the Appendix a number of extracts from 
these writings, and other notes explaining to the general 
public some of the more difficult matters contained in 
the lecture. 

The author has endeavored to give a fresh study of 

one of the most difficult and delicate questions of our 

(5) 



Q PREFACE. 

times. He does not expect to please those who find 
nothing desirable outside the beaten tracks. Novelties 
are to them heresies. He aims rather, to stimulate those 
who believe that the Holy Spirit will guide into all 
truth, and are willing and eager to find new truth as well 
as old in the Word of God. That Word liveth and 
abideth forever. Its treasures of wisdom were not 
exhausted by our fathers. It has precious fruits for 
us also. 



BIBLICAL HISTORY. 



Biblical History is the History contained in the 
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. It is nec- 
essary to distinguish it from the History of Israel on 
the one hand, and from the recent theological discipline 
called " Contemporary History of the Old and New Tes- 
taments " on the other. I do not undervalue either of 
these two important branches of History when I urge 
that Biblical History is a separate branch. I rather 
aim to put these three branches of history, that deal 
more or less with the same themes, in their true rela- 
tions. 

The Contemporary History of the Old Testament aims 
to study the history of the nations that influenced Israel. 
It studies the monuments of Babylon, Egypt, Phoenicia, 
Assyria, and the lesser nations that encompassed Israel 
or were entwined with him in his development. It 
studies the history of Persia, Greece, and Rome, — the 
ancient masters of the world that held Israel in subjec- 
tion. 

These cast a flood of light upon the history recorded 
in the Bible and give us invaluable information with re- 
gard to the external influences working upon Israel and 
co-operating with the internal influences to produce his 
historical training. Great attention has been paid to 
this method of study in recent times, and it has in many 

0) 



g BIBLICAL HISTORY. 

minds overwhelmed and absorbed the study of Biblical 
History itself. 

Biblical History moves on its way in the narratives of 
the Bible, touching the great nations of the Old World 
at various points in its advancement, giving and receiv- 
ing influences of various kinds, but pervaded with a 
sense of an overpowering force that has determined not 
only the History of Israel, but of all nations of the 
world. Israel has been a football of the nations, trod- 
den under foot and tossed hither and thither by those 
mightier than he, but he has been a ball of light and fire 
that no violence could quench ; for a divine blessing 
was in him for all mankind. God cast Israel into the 
fiery furnace that his dross might be consumed and the 
pure gold shine in its glorious lustre. The nations were 
his hammers, to beat him into the holy image God had 
designed for him from the beginning. 

The earlier Isaiah warns the proud Assyrian : 

" Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when Adonay hath per- 
formed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, 

" I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of As- 
syria and the glory of his high looks." 

" Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith ? 
Or, shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it ? " 
(Isaiah x. 12, 15). 

And the later Isaiah encourages Israel : 

" And now, thus saith Jahveh, 
Thy creator, O Jacob, and thy former, O Israel, 
Fear -not, for I have redeemed thee. 
I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine ; 
When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee ; 
And in the rivers, they shall not o'erfiow thee : 
When thou walkest in the fire, thou shalt not be burned. 
Neither shall the flame consume thee. 
For I, Jahveh, am thy God, 
The Holy One of Israel is thy Saviour" (Isaiah xliii. 1-3). 



BIBLICAL HISTORY. 9 

The Hebrew Prophets see that Jahveh, the God of 
Israel, shaped all the migrations of the nations, all the 
movements of mankind, all the revolutions of history, 
for the training of His own well-beloved people. 

" When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance 
When he separated the children of men, 
He set the bounds of the peoples. 
According to the number of the children of Israel ; 
For Jahveh's portion is his people. 
Jacob is the lot of his inheritance " (Deut. xxxii. 8-9). 

And yet Israel was not for himself alone. The Biblical 
historians do not encourage any neglect of the other 
nations of the world. They represent that all are to 
share in the blessings of Abraham ; they see them all 
ultimately before the judgment-seat of God ; they look 
forward to their ultimate incorporation in the kingdom 
under the Messianic King. The prophet rebukes Israel 
for supposing that he alone was the people of God, and 
that all the other nations were neglected by the God of 
all the earth. 

" Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, 
O children of Israel, saith Jahveh, 
Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, 
And the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir ? " 
(Amos ix. 7). 

God watched over the other nations of the world, 
guided their history, and will bring them also to sal- 
vation and judgment. No one can altogether under- 
stand Biblical History until he has placed it in the light 
of its Contemporary History, and yet he would make a 
vast mistake who would suppose that this Contemporary 
History is the key to Biblical History. The Biblical 
History is the centre of this circumference of nations. 
It is the Sun in the midst of the world in whose rising 



10 BIBLICAL HISTORY. 

all mankind are to rejoice (Is. Ix.). It is the light stream- 
ing forth from Biblical History that illuminates the Con- 
temporary History. Contemporary History reflects the 
rays of that light. The study of the one ought not to 
conflict with the study of the other. 

It is also necessary to distinguish Biblical History 
from the History of Israel. The history of Israel is a 
part of the history of the world. It is a section of the 
discipline of Universal History. It should be studied 
with a purely scientific interest. It uses Biblical His- 
tory as one of its sources ; it uses Contemporary History 
as another; it arranges all its material in a scientific 
manner, in accordance with the principles of historic de- 
velopment. ■ It is on the one side more extensive than 
Biblical History. It fills up the numerous blanks that 
are left therein from other sources of information. 

The period between the Old and New Testaments is 
of no importance to Biblical History ; but it is of vast 
importance to the History of Israel. The historian will 
lay much more stress upon it than upon many earlier 
periods where the Biblical writers dwell at length. On 
the other hand the History of Israel is less extensive 
than Biblical History. It does not enter into the prov- 
ince of the supernatural, that most characteristic feature 
of Biblical History. It stumbles at theophanies, mir- 
acles, and prophecies. It finds it difficult to adjust these 
supernatural features to the principles of scientific study. 
The purely personal relations of Jahveh to his people 
are matters into which the scientific historian does not 
venture. 

The scientific study of the History of Israel is of vast 
importance. No one can understand altogether the His- 
tory of Israel, unless Israel's true place and importance 
in universal history have been determined. Each one of 



BIBLICAL HISTORY. H 

the great nations of the old world has contributed its 
own best achievements for the weal of humanity. No 
one can understand the workings of God in History who 
does not estimate, to some extent at least, the work of 
Egypt and Assyria, of Phoenicia and Persia, of Greece 
and Rome, in the advancement of mankind. The his- 
tory of the world is, as Lessing grandly shows, the 
divine education of our race ; and every nation has its 
share in that instruction, and contributes its quota of ex- 
perience to the successive generations. The nations of 
the modern world have all come into line with their inter- 
play of forces, making the problem more complex and 
wonderful. The old nations of the Orient — China, In- 
dia, and Japan — with Africa and the islands of the sea, 
share in that education and service. The world is one 
in origin, in training, and in destiny. There is force in 
Renan's remark : 

"Jewish History that would have the monopoly of the mir- 
acle is not a bit more extraordinary than Greek History. If 
the supernatural intervention is necessary to explain the one, 
the supernatural intervention is also necessary to explain the 
other." * 

I do not agree with his use of the term supernat- 
ural. But I do agree with him in the opinion that the 
hand of God alone can explain the history of Greece and 
the blessings it contained for mankind. The school of 
Clement of Alexandria were correct in the opinion that 
the philosophy of Greece was a divinely ordered prepa- 
ration for the gospel, as were the law and the prophets 
of Israel. The Biblical historians were the first to see 
this fact, and to set it forth in the horizon of their nar- 
ratives. They see that the God of Israel is the God 
seated upon the circle of the heavens, turning the hearts 

* Histoire du Peuple cf Israel^ I., p. v. 



12 BIBLICAL HISTORY. 

of kings and nations ; they know that the Messiah of 
Israel is the universal King ; they see all the forces of 
history converging toward His universal sway. It is a 
Hebrew poet who describes the New Jerusalem as the 
city of the regeneration of the nations : 

" Glorious things are being spoken in thee, city of God ! 
I mention Rahab and Babel as belonging to those who know 

me; 
Lo, Philistia and Tyre with Gush : ' This one was born there/ 
And as belonging to Zion, it is said, — ' This one and that one 

were born in her,' 
And Elyon, Jahveh^he establisheth her, 
He counteth in writing up the peoples, — * This one was bom 

there,' 
Yea, they are singing as well as dancing, all those who dwell 

in thee."* 

We do not by any means undervalue the scientific 
study of the History of Israel and the origins of Chris- 
tianity. We do not depreciate the importance of the 
Contemporary History of the Old and the New Testa- 
ments, when we insist that Biblical History has its own 
place and importance as the lamp of the nations and the 
key for the development of mankind.f 

Biblical History is confined to the history recorded in 
the canonical writings of the Scriptures. Here is a 
group of sacred histories that are of unique import- 
ance. They cover a wide range in time, an immense 
mass of detail ; they were written by different writers, 
in three different languages, and yet they have common 
features that distinguish them from all other histories, 
and entitle them to be bound together in one book as 
Biblical History. 

This history extends over a vast period of time : it be- 

* Ps. Ixxxvii. See Briggs' Messianic Prophecy, p. 227. t See Appendix I. 



BIBLICAL HISTORY. 13 

gins with the creation of the world, it closes with the 
erection of the banner of the Messiah in Rome, the 
capital of the world. It is narrower in its geographical 
range. Its centre is Palestine, a little land that has al- 
ways been and always must be, for geographical rea- 
sons, the centre of the world. But it radiates from this 
centre into all the territories of the great nations of the 
Old World. It deals with a little nation and very often 
with single persons, but that nation was the people of 
God, the bearer of the greatest religions of the world, 
Judaism and Christianity, which have determined the 
entire development of mankind ; and these individuals 
were the prophets of God : Abraham, Moses, Samuel, 
David, Solomon, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezra — names 
that outshine the brightest stars of other nations in 
moral worth, and all of whom point, as watchers of the 
night, to the dawn of the sun of the world, Jesus Christ, 
the greatest of men, the Son of God, and Saviour of 
man. Such a history that discloses to us the religious 
heroes of mankind, the banner-bearers of God ; and that 
culminates in the glories of God manifest in the flesh, 
has a unique place and importance in the development 
of the world. 

Biblical History is wonderful in its variety. Four dif- 
ferent types of writers give us four different points of 
view, of the most important and fundamental characters 
and events. There are four Gospels, that combine to 
give us a comprehensive view of Jesus Christ, our Sav- 
iour. Any one of them is easily worth all other books 
written by men. We have also four narratives of the 
establishment of the Old Covenant. 

Higher Criticism has traced these four narratives in 
the Hexateuch, and has for the most part separated them 
so that we can place them in parallelism, just as we do 



l^ BIBLICAL HISTORY. 

the gospels in our Harmonies. A postexilic editor com- 
pacted them together, just as Tatian did the gospels in 
the second Christian century.^ Dogmatists and Tradi- 
tionalists have gone on " snorting " against the Higher 
Criticism since the days of Eichhorn, its father — but 
they have long since been silenced on the Continent of 
Europe ; they speak with timidity in Great Britain. It 
is only in ultra-conservative America that they still go 
on battling for traditional theories and clamoring 
against the truth of God.f Any one can see that four 
gospels are better than one ; four narratives of the story 
of the founding of the Old Covenant are also better 
than one. Even if we have to give up the ^^losaic au- 
thorship of the Pentateuch, we gain four writers in the 
place of Moses ; and the history of Moses and the estab- 
lishment of his covenant, gains vastly in strength by the 
testimony of four witnesses instead of one. 

In the history of the kingdom from its establishment 
to the exile, we have two parallel narratives in the books 
of Samuel and Kings on the one hand, and the Chroni- 
cler on the other ; but Higher Criticism finds in the 
narratives of Samuel and Kings three original writers, 
similar to three of the writers of the Hexateuch. 

These four kinds of writers of Biblical History that 
we find in the Old Testament, as well as in the New, 
are not without significance, for they correspond with 
four types that run through the entire literature of the 
Bible. James, Peter, Paul, and John represent four dif- 
ferent points of view in the New Testament epistles. 
Each of these types has its corresponding gospel. In 
the Old Testament we distinguish the writers of the 
wisdom literature from the writers of the lyric poetry, 



* See Appendix II. f See Aj^iendix III, 



BIBLICAL HISTORY. 15 

and both of these from the prophetic and the priestly- 
writers. Are not these the same types that we find in 
the New Testament, and ought we not to expect to find 
these same types, that are in the New Testament, repre- 
sented in the older histories ? These are not fanciful 
combinations of theorists and speculators, but are the 
interesting product of the scientific study of the Bible 
itself. When we compare these four types of Biblical 
writers with the results of the scientific study of other 
religions and races, we find that they correspond with 
the four great temperaments of mankind, and the four 
great types of character that reappear throughout human 
history. 

It is one of the wonderful results of the Higher Criti- 
cism of the Bible that all the important events and 
doctrines rest upon a fourfold foundation, and a compre- 
hension of the four great ways of looking at things that 
are possible to the human mind. There is danger in 
our study of the Bible on this very account. Few minds 
are sufficiently comprehensive to grasp the entire repre- 
sentation of these Biblical writers. Each man will natu- 
rally look at any subject through the eyes and the rep- 
resentations of the author of kindred temperament and 
type. The analysis of the Hexateuch has brought to 
light a large number of apparent inconsistencies. This 
was what ought to have been expected. They are no 
more, however, than those that still trouble scholars in 
the Harmony of the Gospels after all these centuries of 
study. On the other hand, many old difficulties have 
been removed. Many statements that were inconsist- 
ent and even contradictory in the same author, are com- 
plementary and supplementary in different authors ; and 
so we gain a higher unity of representations, which is all 
the grander for the fourfold variety out of which it 



IQ BIBLICAL HISTORY. 

springs. The history has not the unity of a straight line, 
a series of points, but the unity of a cube — the unity 
such as we see in the cubical structure of the Holy of 
Holies of the tabernacle, and the temple. The new Jeru- 
salem of the Apocalypse is four-square. The army of 
the living God marches in four solid divisions. The 
cherubic chariot of its King faces the four quarters of the 
earth. The four cherubic faces represent not only the 
four gospels, but also the four types that are in the 
epistles of the New Testament, and the histories and 
writings of the Old Testament. 

Biblical History has certain features that distinguish 
it from all other history. The most important of these 
is the theophanic presence of God, 

There are some who would point to miracles and 
prophecy as the great supernatural features of the Bible, 
that prove its uniqueness and its divine origin. But any 
intelligent person will admit that it is just these super- 
natural features of miracles and prophecies that, in our 
day, constitute the chief obstacles to faith in the Bible 
for scientific and literary scholars. Biblical History is 
not unique in this regard. The ancient histories of other 
nations claim miracles and divine prophecy for the lead- 
ers of their religion. The scientific historian is tempted 
to treat the miracles and prophecies of Biblical History 
in the same way in which he treats them in the history 
of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and the Roman Church. He 
is bound so to do, unless something of a distinguishing 
character is found in these supernatural features of the 
Bible. It also is noteworthy that Moses and Jesus rec- 
ognize the supernatural in miracle-working and prophecy 
beyond the range of prophetic-working and outside the 
kingdom of God. There must be something in the 
character of the supernatural in Biblical History that 



BIBLICAL HISrORY. 17 

will vindicate its reality and power, or it cannot be 
saved from the tomb into which modern Historical 
Criticism has cast the supernatural in all other history. 

It has long been clear to me that the Bible does not 
magnify the supernatural in miracle-working and proph- 
ecy to the same extent as is common in modern 
treatises on the evidences of Christianity and Apolo- 
getics. 

It is my opinion that undue stress upon these things 
has called attention away from still more important fea- 
tures in Biblical History. The miracles of Biblical His- 
tory were not wrought in order to give modern divines 
evidences of the truth and reality of the Biblical re- 
ligion. The prophets did not aim to give apologists 
proofs for the inspiration of the Scriptures. The miracles 
were wrought as acts of divine judgment and redemp- 
tion. Prophecy was given to instruct men in the religion 
of God, in order to their salvation and moral growth. 
The miracles were not designed to show that God was 
able to violate the laws of nature, to overrule or suspend 
them at His will. The miracles of the Bible rather show 
that God Himself was present in Nature, directing His 
own laws in deeds of redemption, and of judgment. 
The miracles are divine acts in nature. Prophecy was 
not designed to show that God can overrule the laws of 
the human mind, suspend them, or act instead of them, 
using man as a mere speaking-tube to convey heavenly 
messages to this world. Prophecy rather discloses the 
presence of God in man, stimulating him to use all the 
powers of his intellectual and moral nature in the instruc- 
tion of the people of God. Miracles and prophecy in 
Biblical History are the signs of the presence of God in 
that History. He has not left that History to itself. He 
has not left the laws of nature and of mind to theii 



18 BIBLICAL HISTORY. 

ordinary development, but He has taken His place at 
the head of affairs as the monarch of nature and the king 
of men to give His personal presence and superintendence 
to a history which is central and dominant of the history 
of the world. 

Now this is the conception of the supernatural, that 
we find in Biblical History. Miracles were chiefly at the 
Exodus from Egypt, and the entrance into Palestine. 
Here they are associated with the theophanic presence 
of God. They reappear in the age of Elijah and Elisha, 
a period marked by theophanies. Then again they were 
wrought by Jesus, the God-man, and by His apostles, in 
connection with theophanies of the divine Spirit. The 
Theophany, the Christophany, and the Pneumatophany 
are the sources of the miracles of the Bible. When God 
is really present in Nature, in the forms of time and 
space and circumstance, then miracles are the most natu- 
ral things in the world.* 

The Prophecy of the Old Testament also springs 
from theophanies. The great master-spirits of prophecy 
were called by theophanies. The apostles were com- 
missioned by Christophanies and Pneumatophanies. God 
entered into the human mind, into its perception, con- 
ception, and imagination, and guided these to give utter- 
ance to the wonderful things of God.f I do not presume 
to say that every miracle and every prophetic discourse 
may be traced directly to theophanic influence, yet I do 
venture to say that the most of them can be traced to 
such origination, and that the others may likewise be re- 
ferred to a more secret divine presence m nature and in 
man, even if that presence was not always disclosed in 
some external manner. 



* See Appendix IV. t See Appendix V. 



BIBLICAL HISTORY. 19 

It is necessary, however, to go much farther, in order 
to realize the importance of the theophany in Biblical 
History. It is the representation of the Patriarchal 
History that God was constantly manifesting Himself 
to the antediluvians and patriarchs in various theophanic 
forms, to guide them in all the important affairs of their 
lives. The four narratives of the Exodus tell us that 
God assumed the form of an angel and then of a pillar 
of cloud and fire, and remained with His people in a per- 
manent form of theophany from the Exodus from Egypt 
until the entrance in the Holy Land. God's theophanic 
presence remained with His people until the exile. The 
ark was His throne, the tabernacle His abode, the tem- 
ple His palace. The sacred writers of the Old Testa- 
ment knew that God was reigning in Jerusalem as the 
real King of Israel and the nations, by personal theo- 
phanic presence. 

The theophanic presence was withdrawn from the na- 
tion during the exile and only granted to a few proph- 
ets ; but on the return to Canaan, God again appeared 
in wondrous theophanies. These are not recorded in 
the cold, dry narrative of the chronicler, but they appear 
in the psalms and prophets of the period. The theo- 
phanic presence of God was not granted to the second 
temple. God withdrew Himself from His people for 
several centuries in order to prepare mankind for the 
grandest of all theophanies — the Incarnation of the Son 
of God. The Incarnation was God manifest in the flesh, 
an abiding presence of God, no longer in the Holy of 
Holies, but in familiar intercourse with men until His 
death on the cross and ascension to the heavenly 
throne. Then a few days of divine absence, and the 
theophany of the divine Spirit came at Pentecost. 

Pneumatophany and Christophany now abound in the 



20 BIBLICAL HISTOKY. 

period of planting the Church in the world. The last is 
the wonderful one in Patmos. And here Biblical His- 
tory comes to an end, with a prophetic picture of the 
final scenes of all history. From this survey, it is clear 
that the most distinguishing feature of Biblical History 
is the theophanic presence of God. The narratives of the 
Biblical writers treat of the times of that presence. 
When the theophany is absent, the Biblical narrative is 
absent also. When the theophany is absent, the Bibli- 
cal historian sees nothing to narrate ; his Lord is not 
there. History is to him a blank. When the theoph- 
any is withdrawn and the enthroned Saviour governs 
His kingdom without theophanic manifestations, Bibli- 
cal History passes over into Church History. From 
this point of view. Biblical History is the History of the 
theophanic presence of God in His kingdom of grace. 

This central feature of Biblical History determines all 
others. 

The theocratic historian begins his narrative with the 
story of theophanic manifestations to the patriarchs, 
taking a special interest in Israel, the father of the na- 
tion. This writer is graphic, plastic, and realistic. God 
appears in dreams : He comes in forms of man and angel. 
He lets Himself be seen and touched. He even conde- 
scends to wrestle with Jacob. He appears to Moses in 
the burning bush as the angel of the presence. He 
assumes human form and lets Moses see Him and com- 
mune with Him in His tent. He manifests Himself to 
the elders of Israel, enthroned on a glorious throne, and 
lets them eat the covenant sacrifice in His presence. 
God is to this narrator ever present to guide the nation 
as their King. 

" Thy right hand, Jahveh, is glorious in power. 
Thy right hand, Jahveh, dasheth in pieces the enemy. 



BIBLICAL HISTORY. 21 

Thou sendest forth thy wrath, it consumeth them as stubble, 
And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were piled up. 
The floods stood upright as an heap, 
The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. 
Thou, in thy mercy, hast led the people which thou dost re- 
deem. 
Thou hast guided them in thy strength to thy holy habitation. 
Jahveh reigns forever and ever." (Ex. xv. 6-19). 

The same spirit guides the theocratic narrator vi^ho 
tells the story of the later history. He is very zealous 
for his own God, and scorns the gods of the nations. 
Elijah condenses this feeling in his bitter irony to the 
prophets of Baal : 

" Cry aloud : for he is a god ; either he is musing or he is gone 
aside, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and 
must be awaked." (i Kings xviii. 27). 

The calm, serene confidence of the prophet is justified 
by the theophanic interposition and the cry of the peo- 
ple : 
"Jahveh, He is God! Jahveh, He is God!" (i Kings xviii. 39). 

The gospel of Mark writes in a similar spirit in the 
New Testament. Mark has no interest in introductory 
matters or even results. He is absorbed in the Christ 
of history, in His life and deeds. His plastic style gives 
us Jesus as He manifested Himself. He tells his story 
in such a realistic and powerful manner that we bow be- 
fore the Christ as the King of nature and of men, with- 
out waiting for solicitation or argument. 

Other histories give us evidences of the presence and 
power of God. Mythological conceptions lie at the ba- 
sis of the histories of other ancient nations. There the 
gods descend to earth and clothe themselves in forms of 
nature and man ; but they thereby assume the parts and 
passions of man and share in all his weaknesses, sins, and 



22 BIBLICAL HISTORY. 

corruptions ; or they become merely forces and forms of 
physical nature. But the theophanies of these Biblical 
historians never confound God with man, with angels, 
or with nature; and the form assumed is merely for 
manifestation to holy men ; and it is a thin veil through 
which as much of the glory of deity shines as the holy 
man or prophet was able to bear. And whereas these 
mythological conceptions are only at the mythical roots 
of other ancient Histories ; the theophanies pervade and 
control Biblical History from the beginning to the end. 
There is no other history in which God is manifest in 
such a simple, natural, and yet kingly way, where men 
see Him, know Him, and obey Him as their own Prince 
and King. 

The prophetic historian begins his story with an epic 
poem, disclosing, on the one side, the origin and devel- 
opment of human sin and the divine wrath, and on the 
other the grace of God in the progress of redemption. 
The great theme of his history is redemption from sin. 
He and other Biblical historians of the same type, give 
us the development of the Kingdom of Redemption. The 
great Hebrew epic that constitutes the preface of this 
history is the most wonderful of stories."^ The history 
of mankind begins with Adam, sculptured by the hands 
of God and quickened by the breath of God. He is 
placed in a paradise planted by the hands of God, and 
has charge of animals formed, like himself, by the hands 
of God. He receives his wife from the hands of God, 
built out of a portion of his own body. He is trained 
in conception and speech by the voice of God. All 
things in him and about him exhibit the marks of God's 
personal presence and contact ; and yet Adam sinned 



* See Appendix VI. 



BIBLICAL HISTORY. 23 

against his creator and benefactor, and brought an entail 
of woe upon our race. The epic describes, in a series of 
pictures, the successive catastrophes of mankind, the 
Fall, the Fratricide, the Deluge, and the Dispersion, 
events that lie at the foundations of human history. 
Faint reflections of these events are found in the legends 
and myths of other ancient nations, but nowhere do we 
see such a beautiful, simple, touching, and profound 
story. It is an artist's masterpiece, whether we regard 
it as prose or poetry, whether it be legend or narrative. 
I think that it is poetry in form as well as substance— 
an epic poem of the highest order. Here the imagina- 
tion and fancy are supreme, and yet there is nothing of 
those grotesque mythological forms, and those extrava- 
gant legendary scenes that constitute the staple of all 
efforts to depict the origin of things among other an- 
cient nations. The poem is so simple, so chaste, so real- 
istic, so artless, that it has been mistaken by most stu- 
dents for prose. Such poetry must have been inspired 
by a divine art ; such imagination and fancy must have 
been inflamed and at the same time tempered and sub- 
dued by a divine breath. 

The poem describes the origin and development of 
sin in the family of Adam, in the descendants of Cain, 
in the human race, in the family of Noah, in the build- 
ers of Babel. The wrath of God comes upon sin in 
several catastrophes of judgment. But redemption is 
never absent. The promise to the woman's seed opens 
up the path of Messianic prophecy, which the prophet 
traces in its stages of divine revelation, so that human 
sin is overwhelmed and destroyed in the progress of 
redemption. Sin and Redemption are the master words 
of his entire history. We see them unfolding in the 
patriarchal story, in the exodus, and the wanderings, 



24 BIBLICAL HISTORY. 

and the conquest. Jahveh, the personal God and Sav- 
iour, is ever with His people to guide and to bless. 
This prophet is the brightest and best narrator in the 
Bible. His stories never tire us, for they ever touch the 
secret springs of our heart's emotions. 

A writer of a similar spirit tells the story of David, of 
his sins and sorrows and restoration, and traces the his- 
tory of the kingdom of redemption in his seed until the 
Exile. 

Matthew is an evangelist of a similar spirit — the favor- 
ite among the gospels. He is the evangelist of the Mes- 
sianic promise, of the kingdom of redemption, and of 
the conflict of sin and grace. 

The history of sin and of redemption in these Biblical 
historians is unique. Sin, indeed, is everywhere in the 
world. Other histories cover it over. These histories 
expose it. And yet Israel was not the greatest sinner 
among the nations. If his sins are more patent, are 
more in the light of history, it is because he has ever 
been a penitent sinner. Deceitful Abraham, crafty 
Jacob, choleric Moses, wilful Saul, passionate David, 
voluptuous Solomon, hasty Peter, doubting Thomas, 
heresy-hunting Paul — these are not the chief of sinners. 
Their counterparts are to be found in all ages and all 
over the world. We see them every day in our streets. 
They are not distinguished above other men as sinners ; 
but they are distinguished as repenting sinners, the dis- 
coverers of the divine forgiveness of sin, the banner- 
bearers of redemption, the trophies of divine grace. No 
other history but Biblical History gives us such a history 
of redemption, an unfolding of the grace of God, from the 
first promise of the ancient epic, through all the intricate 
variety of Messianic prophecy and fulfilment, until we 
see the Redeemer ascend to heaven, the son of woman, 



BIBLICAL HISTORY. 25 

the second Adam, the serpent-bruiser, victor over sin 
and death, to reign on a throne of grace as the world's 
Redeemer. 

The fifth book of the Hexateuch is called Deuteron- 
omy, on the ancient theory that it was a repetition of 
the law. Its legislation is represented in the narratives 
of the book of Kings, rather, as the Instruction or the 
Covenant. This legislation is embedded in narratives 
that assume the oratorical form. They have a character 
of their own ; they are of a distinct type from the nar- 
ratives thus far considered. The same writer is chiefly 
responsible for the history of the Conquest. A writer 
of the same type has touched up the history of the 
Kings. This writer has the conception of the Father- 
hood of God, and from this point of view he estimates 
the history of God's people. The whole history is a 
discipline, a training of the child Israel by his father 
God. The love of the Father and His tender compas- 
sion are grandly conceived, and the sin of the nation is 
a violation of the parental relation. The ideal life of 
God's people is a life of love to the heavenly Father. 
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by the word that 
issues from the mouth of God. The divine instruction, 
the holy guidance is what the child needs for life, 
growth, and prosperity. All blessedness is summed up 
in loving God and serving Him with the whole heart. 
All curses will come upon those who forsake Him and 
refuse His instruction and guidance. God is Judge as 
well as Father, and this discipline is to end in an ultimate 
judgment that will award the blessings and curses that 
have been earned. The Deuteronomist judges the whole 
history of Israel from this point of view, and regards it 
as determined by the disciplining love of God. 

The Gospel of John is of the same type, in the New 



26 BIBLICAL HISTORY. 

Testament. It is the gospel of light, and life, and love. 
The love of God, displayed throughout Biblical History, 
reaches its climax in that love which gave the only be- 
gotten Son for the salvation of the world. The life that 
was in the words of the Old Covenant was intensified in 
the words of Jesus, which are spirit and life ; it entered 
the world and dwelt among us as the Incarnate Word, 
the light of the world, and the true life for mankind. 
The Biblical History is thus a history of the fatherly 
love of God. We shall not deny that other histories 
display the love of God, and that all mankind share in 
the heavenly discipline. But it was left for the Biblical 
histories to discern that love, and to describe it as the 
quickening breath of History. 

The priestly historian takes the most comprehensive 
view of Biblical History. He begins with an ancient 
poem describing the creation of the world. This stately 
lyric, in six pentameter strophes, paints the wondrous 
drama of the six days* work in which the Sovereign of 
the universe, by word of command, summons His host 
into being, and out of primitive chaos organizes a beau- 
tiful and orderly whole. The sovereignty of God and 
the supremacy of law and order are the most striking 
features of this story of creation.* 

I doubt if there is any other passage of the Bible that 
has attracted such universal attention and been the cen- 
tre of such world-wide contest from the earliest times. 
Here Biblical History comes into contact with Physical 
Science in all its sections, with Philosophy, with the his- 
tory of ancient nations, as well as with theology. I shall 
not attempt to discuss the numberless questions that 
spring into our minds in connection with the first chap- 
ter of Genesis. I will only remark that if one takes it 

* See Appendix VII. 



Biblical history. 27 

as a lyric poem, and interprets it in the same way as we 
are accustomed to interpret the psalms of creation and the 
poetic descriptions of the creation in Hebrew Prophecy 
and Hebrew Wisdom, the most of the difficulties will 
pass away ; and the greater part of the contest with Sci- 
ence, Philosophy, and Archaeology will cease. 

It is plain to me that the poem does not teach crea- 
tion out of nothing, but its scope is to describe the 
bringing of beauty and order and organism out of primi- 
tive chaos. It is clear to me that the poem makes the 
word and spirit of God the agents of creation, and 
these are just as suitable to the conception of develop- 
ment in six stages as to the conception of an indefinite 
number of distinct originations out of nothing. 

I am not troubled with the order of creation, for the 
poet is giving us six scenes in the Act of Creation, six 
pictures of the general order of the development of 
nature. I think it is not necessary to suppose that there 
was a wide gap between these pictures, and that there 
is no overlapping. When God said, " Let light come 
into being," He did not continue saying these words for 
twenty-four hours, or a century or more. Divine speech 
is instantaneous. The effect of His saying may go on 
forever, but His word is a flash of light. I think that 
God did no more speaking on the second day than on 
the first, no more on the sixth than on the third. The 
poet certainly does not tell us that God spake a creative 
word for every object of creation, or even for every 
species or genus. He, who in His divine conception is 
above the limits of time and space and circumstance, 
who grasps in one conception the whole frame of uni- 
versal nature, with one word, or one breath, or a thought, 
might have called the universe into being. The poem 
of the Creation conceives God as speaking six creative 



^8 BIBLICAL HISTORY. 

words, in order thus to paint the six pictures of creation 
in an orderly manner. The poet does not propose to 
comprehend in his representation all the forces and 
forms and methods of the work of God. 

Take it as it is, it is a lyric poem of wonderful power 
and beauty. Science has not yet reached a point when it 
can tell the story of creation so well. The story of 
creation is set forth in the legends and myths of many 
nations. The Babylonian poem gives us the best ethnic 
representation. But all these ethnic conceptions are 
discolored by mythological fancies and grotesque spec- 
ulations. Compared with the best of them, the Biblical 
Poem is pure and simple and grand. A divine touch is 
in its sketchings. A divine spirit hovered over the mind 
of the poet to bring order and beauty out of his crude 
and tossing speculations, no less than He did over the 
primitive chaos of the world itself. 

The priestly historian gives another ancient Poem of 
the Deluge, which also is marked by the same general 
characteristics of the sovereignty of God and the suprem- 
acy of law, that we have seen in the poem of the Crea- 
tion. He connects these and his other histories by a 
well-arranged table of genealogies, giving us the line of 
mankind from Adam through the centuries of the holy 
race. He conceives of God as a holy God, and of man 
as created in the image of the holy God, with sovereignty 
over the earth. It is sin against the divine majesty 
that involves the catastrophe of the deluge. This his- 
torian traces the history of Israel in a series of divine 
covenants with Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and Moses. 
These involve the government of God and the service 
of a holy people. The constitution of a holy law and 
holy institutions is his highest delight. God's people 
must be a holy people, as God their Lord is holy, and 



BIBLICAL HISTORY. 29 

all their approaches to Him must be in well-ordered 
forms of sanctity. The entire history of the Exodus and 
the conquest is conceived from this point of view. 

The chronicler is an author of kindred spirit. He 
describes the history of the kingdom until the exile, 
and judges of it from the point of view of the holy law 
of God. He also gives us an account of the Restoration 
and establishment of the holy people in the holy land, 
under the priestly rule and the holy law. And here he 
brings his history to an end. 

A writer of similar spirit in the New Testament is 
Luke. He also begins his genealogy with Adam. He 
also gives a later unfolding of the history in the story 
of the planting of Christianity among Jews and Gen- 
tiles. He also has a profound sense of the sovereignty 
of God, the work of the divine Spirit, and the ideal of 
holiness. 

When now we compare these Biblical historians with 
other ancient historians, we observe that the Egyptians 
come p'^arest to the Hebrews in their conception of 
sanctity, but the Hebrews transcend them in making 
holiness the norm of History. The ideal of the image 
of the Holy God in man, is the ideal that these Biblical 
writers held in mind, as the goal of history. Whence 
could they have derived this ideal if not from the mind 
of God? 

I shall not attempt to enter into any details in expo- 
sition of the History contained in the Bible. It is suffi- 
cient to say that the History is determined in its divis- 
ions by its great principles. The History is divided into 
two parts, not only by the blank of several hundred years 
that separates the Old Testament History from the New 
Testament ; but still more, by the fact that the history 
of the Old Testament is guided by Theophanies, the his- 



30 BIBLICAL HISTORY. 

tory of the New Testament by Christophanies, and it is 
just the unfolding of these Theophanies and Christoph- 
anies that marks the subordinate periods. 

You have doubtless noted that I have had nothing to 
say about inspiration, and that I have taken little ac- 
count of some things that are usually magnified by those 
who are over-anxious about the evidences of our religion, 
and seem to consider a system of Apologetics the chief 
end of the Bible and Theology. I have called your at- 
tention to other things that seem to me of much greater 
importance. I have shown you the great principles of 
Biblical History as they appear in the Biblical his- 
torians. We have seen that the Presence of God in na- 
ture and man is the greatest feature of Biblical History, 
and that this presence is sometimes conceived as a royal 
personal presence, as friend and guide, sometimes as the 
Saviour guiding the history of redemption, sometimes 
as the Father disciplining His people in love, and some 
times as a holy God governing His people with a holy 
law in view of an ideal of holiness. These principles 
are the dominant principles of Biblical History. These 
attributes of Biblical History distinguish it from all other 
History. The Biblical writers have a divine way of 
historical composition. They bring God near to us, 
encompass us with heavenly influence, and make us 
sensible of the touch of God. If this is not Inspiration 
it is fully as good as Inspiration. It is better than many 
conceptions of Inspiration. It assures us that the books 
are books of God, the words of life and redemption. If 
such features and attributes do not convince men of the 
divine authority of the Scriptures, I doubt whether you 
can convince them in any other way.* 



* See Appendix VIII. 



BIBLICAL HISTOKY. 31 

Biblical History lies in the midst of Ancient History 
as its centre of light and life. Biblical History lies at 
the basis of Church History as its root and spring. Once 
a grain of mustard-seed in Palestine, the people of God 
have produced a wondrous plant in Christendom. 
Planted as a cedar twig on the mountains of Israel, they 
have become a giant of Lebanon, overshadowing the 
earth (Matth. xiii. 31, 32; Ezek. xvii. 22-24). -^ long 
blank of eighteen centuries lies between us and the His- 
tory recorded in the Bible, and yet that History still re- 
mains a well-spring of life to mankind. A blank of sev- 
eral centuries separated the Old Testament theophanies 
from the Incarnation of the Son of God. They were cen- 
turies of preparation for the first Advent. So these eight- 
een centuries of Christianity are centuries of preparation 
for the second advent of Jesus Christ ; an advent that will 
transcend all theophanies, and be the culmination of all 
Christophanies. For this, Millenniums of preparation 
may well be necessary. But then we may anticipate 
that Biblical History will once more be told by holy 
men of God, who will be stirred to narrate those trans- 
cendent events in which the kingdom of grace will reach 
its fruition. Themes worthy of holy penmen will again 
appear, when Prophecy shall be transformed into His- 
tory in the Advent of our Lord. Sacred historians 
will tell the story for eternity, of that last combat with 
evil, the resurrection of the dead, the day of doom, the 
New Jerusalem, the New Heaven and the New Earth, 
and the Messiah's presentation of the kingdom of the 
redeemed in all its sanctity and glory, as His own best 
gift of love to the Father. 



APPENDIX 



I. 



THE PLACE OF BIBLICAL HISTORY IN THEOLOGICAL ENCYCLO- 
PEDIA. 

Hagenbach * treats Biblical History as a section of Histori- 
cal Theology, dividing it into the History of the People of Is- 
rael, the Contemporary History of the New Testament, the Life 
of Jesus, and the Life of the Apostles and Founding of the 
Church. He regards Biblical History as the transition from 
Exegetical to Historical Theology. On the other hand, he 
makes Biblical Archaeology, including Biblical Geography and 
Natural History, a section of Exegetical Theology .f This dis- 
tribution of the material seems to be unfortunate and without 
sufficient reasons. The line separating Exegetical Theology 
from Historical Theology is not a line that divides between His- 
tory and Exegesis. On this theory Exegetical Theology has to 
do with the exegesis of the sources of Biblical History and The- 
ology ; the results of that exegesis in History and Theology go- 
ing to the Historical department. To carry out such a distinc- 
tion, we would have to distinguish between the exegesis of the 
sources of Church History and Church History itself. Christian 
Archaeology, Patristics, Diplomatics, and the like would come 
under the head of Exegetical Theology. Exegetical Theology 
is really a section of Historical Theology, as most recent writers 
on Encyclopaedia have shown. The chief reasons for making 



* Encyklopddie, nth Aufl,, 1884, p. 219, seg. \ I. c, p. 149, seg. 

(32) 



APPENDIX. 33 

Exegetical Theology a separate division are : (i) its essential 
material is derived from divine revelation ; and (2) the depart- 
ment is so vast that it demands separate treatment. A more 
logical division would be to take Historical Theology as a gen- 
eral term, embracing (i) Exegetical Theology — the Theology of 
the Old and New Testaments ; (2) Ethnic Theology — the The- 
ology of the other religions of the world ; and (3) Christian The- 
ology — the Historical Theology of the Christian Church. 

Principal Cave * has recently made a similar arrangement of 
material, only making six divisions. He includes Biblical His- 
tory under his third division, which he terms Biblical Theology; 
and Church History under his fourth division, which he names 
Ecclesiastical Theology. 

Exegetical Theology should include Biblical History, Biblical 
Theology, Biblical Archaeology, Biblical Geography, and Biblical 
Chronology as well as Biblical Exegesis and Biblical Literature 
— ^just as Historical Theology should include Patristics, Monu- 
mental Theology, Diplomatics, and Christian Epigraphy. 

Biblical History will include Archaeology, Geography, and 
Chronology. It is limited, however, to the Biblical sources, and 
therefore must be distinguished from the History of Israel, which 
is a part of Universal History, and the Contemporary History, 
which looks at the Biblical History from the point of view of 
the surrounding nations. 

The older writers on Biblical History treated it in a devotional 
or homiletical interest. In more recent times Biblical History 
has been neglected, while scholars have devoted themselves to 
the History of Israel and the Contemporary History. 



II. 

THE ANALYSIS OF THE HEXATEUCH, 

** The analysis of the Pentateuch into four distinct narratives, 
with their distinct codes of legislation, is the result of a century 
of study by the most famous critics of the age. There are slight 



* An Introduction to Theology, Edin., T. & T. Clark; N. Y., Scribner, 
Welford & Co. 



34 APPENDIX. 

differences of opinion in the analysis at some points, but these 
are chiefly at the seams which bind the narratives together, and 
are due to the editor's work, who, in his efforts to make the en- 
tire composition as harmonious and symmetrical as possible, 
sometimes obscured the signs of difference. But the concord of 
critics in the work of analysis as a whole is wonderful, in view of 
the difficulties that beset the work of higher criticism. The few 
objectors among Hebrew scholars display their own unfamiliarity 
with the practical work of criticism, when they overlook these 
solid results and point to the difficulties as evidences that the 
problem has not been solved. The differences of opinion among 
practical critics and the difficulties in the analysis are where they 
ought to be from the very nature of the case. Instead of dis- 
proving the work of criticism, they are, therefore, an indirect 
evidence of its correctness. The differences and difficulties dis- 
appear one after the other as the investigation advances. The 
evidences for the analysis into four narratives are : (i) Differ- 
ences in use of words and phrases ; (2) differences in style and 
methods of composition ; (3) differences in point of view and 
representations of religious institutions, doctrines, and morals. 
We have given this latter subject a thorough investigation. We 
have by careful induction gathered the theology of each of the 
documents by itself and then compared them, and have found 
such a thorough-going difference that it is simply impossible 
that they should have come from the same original author. We 
hope at some future time to present the theology of the Penta- 
teuch to the public. In the meanwhile we refer to Dillmann, 
Genesis, 4th Aufl., 1882; Keuss, Gesch. der HezUgen Schriften, A, 
T. 1881 ; Kuenen, Hist. crit. Onderzoek, i., 1885; Wellhausen, 
Die Composition des Hexateuchs, in his Skizzen u. Vorarbeiten, ii., 
1885 ; also my 'Critical Study of the History of the Higher Criti- 
cism,' Presbyterian Review, 1883, p. 69, seq. 

" Scholars are not agreed in the names they give to the four 
documents. The priestly narrator is the Q. of Wellhausen, the 
A. or first Elohist of Dillmann. The prophetic narrator is the 
Jahvist. The theocratic narrator is the second Elohist. The 
Deuteronomist is agreed to by all." (Extract from Briggs' Messi- 
anic Prophecy, pp. 67-68, Charles Scribner's Sons.) 



APPENDIX. 35 



III. 



eichhorn's view of the opponents of the higher 

criticism. 

" Eichhorn separates the Elohistic and Jehovistic documents in 
Genesis with great pains, and with such success that his analysis 
has been the basis of all critical investigation since his day. Its 
great advantages are admirably stated : 

" ' For this discovery of the internal condition of the first books 
of Moses, party spirit will, perhaps, for a pair of decennials, snort 
at the Higher Criticism, instead of rewarding it with the full 
thanks that are due it, for (i), the credibility of the book gains 
by such a use of more ancient documents ; (2) the harmony of 
the two narratives, at the same time with their slight deviations, 
proves their independence and mutual reliability ; (3) interpre- 
ters will be relieved of difficulty by this Higher Criticism, which 
separates document from document ; (4) finally, the gain of Criti- 
cism is also great. If the Higher Criticism has now for the first 
distinguished author from author, and in general characterized 
each according to his own ways, diction, favorite expressions, 
and other peculiarities, then her lower sister, who busies herself 
only with words and spies out false readings, has rules and prin- 
ciples by which she must test particular readings.' * 

" Eichhorn carried his methods of higher criticism into the 
entire Old Testament with the hand of a master, and laid the 
foundation of views that have been maintained ever since with 
increasing determination. He did not always grasp the truth, 
He sometimes chased shadows and framed visionary theories, 
both in relation to the Old and New Testaments, like others 
who have preceded him and followed him. He could not trans- 
cend the limits of his age and adapt himself to future discov- 
eries. The labors of a large number of scholars and the work of 
a century and more v/ere still needed, as Eichhorn modestly an- 
ticipated." (Extract from Briggs' Biblical Study, 3d edition, 
Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 205, 206.) 



* Eichhorn's Einleitung ins Alt Test.^ 1780, ii., p. 329. 



35 APPENDIX. 

The analysis of the Hexateuch into four writings, is an achieve- 
ment of the Higher Criticism that has won the consent of the 
vast majority of professional students of the Old Testament 
throughout the world. I doubt whether there is any subject of 
importance in which professional scholars are so well agreed. 
The Biblical scholarship of the continent of Europe may be said 
to be unanimous on this subject. The Professors of Oxford, 
Cambridge, and Edinburgh are united in their support of the 
four documents. There is not an Old Testament Professor of 
standing in Great Britain who takes any other view, except the 
venerable Principal Douglas, of Glasgow. The majority of Old 
Testament Professors in America are of the same opinion. The 
notable exceptions are : Professors W. H. Green, Howard Os- 
good, and E. C. Bissell. These do not oppose the Higher Criti- 
cism as such. No Biblical scholar could do thato They differ 
from other critics in that they advocate the traditional theory of 
the Pentateuch. They use the tools of criticism, so far as possi- 
ble, as apologists. It is hardly likely that they will long be able 
to resist the Biblical Scholarship of the rest of the world. The 
Higher Criticism has separated the four documents. There is 
agreement here. The discord is as to the date of the documents. 
I am not prepared to take a definite position on that subject. 
So far as the contest between Professors Green, Osgood, and Bis- 
sell, and the critics opposed to them, is concerned, it is a schol- 
arly contest between critics who adhere to the traditional theory, 
and critics who have abandoned the traditional theory for the 
results of a more scientific study of the Scriptures. The only 
difficulty in the situation is that some ministers and editors, who 
are not critics and who are ignorant of the history and terminology 
of criticism, endeavor to excite the public mind against Higher 
Criticism by appeals to prejudice and brutal methods. Our 
Saviour represents such enemies of the truth as hissing serpents 
(Matth. xxiii. 33) ; Paul writes of them as dogs (Phil. iii. 2). It 
is in accordance with such precedents that Eichhorn uses the 
term sjiort. This term has been regarded by Biblical scholars 
for a century as a graphic description of a kind of opposition 
they have had to contend with. 



APPENDIX. 37 

IV. 

MIRACLES AND THEOPHANIES. 

" There can be no doubt that recent criticisms have consider- 
ably v/eakened the evidences from miracles and predictive proph- 
ecy. To many minds it would be easier to believe in the inspira- 
tion of the Scriptures and the divinity of Jesus Christ, if there 
were no such things as Miracles and Prediction in the sacred 
Scriptures. The older apologetic made too much of the external 
marvels of miracle-working, and sought to find in history the 
fulfilment of the minute details of prediction. But it has been 
found easier to prove the divinity of Christ without miracles. 
Belief in miracles needs to be sustained by faith in Jesus Christ. 
It is necessary to prove the inspiration of the Scriptures as the 
product of the spirit of prophecy, before we can advance with 
profit into the special field of prediction. Even the Scriptures 
themselves recognize miracle-working and prediction in false 
prophets, and teach us to distinguish the true miracle and the 
true prediction from the false by their internal character and 
their conformity to truth and fact. Recent criticisms have 
brought these lines of evidences into better accord with the 
representations of the Bible itself. 

" The Old Testament is full of Theophanies ; and in the New 
Testament there are many Christophanies and Pneumatophanies. 
These manifestations of God in the forms of space and time and 
in the sphere of physical nature, are of vast importance in the 
unfolding of divine revelation. These are the centres from which 
miracles and prophecies flow. If there were such theophanies 
or divine manifestations in the successive stages of divine revela- 
tion, then we should expect miracles in the physical world and 
prophecy in the world of man. If Jesus Christ is God manifest 
in the flesh, then prophecy and miracles are exactly what we 
should expect so long as He abode in this world in the flesh. If 
the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles on the day of Pente- 
cost, and He was present with the churches of the apostles in the 
peculiar manner of external manifestations of pneumatophany 
such as are described in the New Testament, we are not surprised 



38 APPENDIX. 

at the occurrence of miracle-working and prophecy during that 
period ; and it seems to be the most natural thing in the world 
that, when these divine manifestations ceased, miracle-working 
and prophecy ceased with them. If, then, on the one side, re- 
cent criticisms have weakened the independent value of the evi- 
dences from miracles and prediction, they have, on the other side, 
given something vastly better in their place. They have called 
the attention to the presence of God with His people in external 
manifestations of theophany, to guide the advancing stages of 
the history of redemption. Here is the citadel of our religion, 
to which all its lines of evidence converge, the centre of the en- 
tire revelation and religion from which prophecy and miracle- 
working issue in all their variety of form. The evidences from 
miracles and prophecy gain in strength when they are placed in 
their true relations to the theophany in which the unity of the 
evidence is found." (Extract from Briggs' Whither ? 1889, Charles 
Scribner's Sons, pp. 279-280.) 



V. 

PROPHECY AND THEOPHANY. 

" The Hebrew religion is a religion of union and communion 
with God, a living, growing, everlasting religioa. The Hebrew 
prophets present us with an immortal religion. They derive it 
by direct communication with the ever-living God. It is the 
theophanic manifestation of God in the formes of time and space 
and sphere of physical nature, to call and endow the master 
spirits of Hebrew prophecy, that constitute one of its most dis- 
tinctive features. Hebrew prophecy, as Hebrew miracle-work- 
ing, springs from theophanies. These were the sources of every 
new advance. They constitute a series leading on to the incar- 
nation as their culmination. They were the divine seals to the 
roll of Hebrew prophecy, sealing every new page with an object- 
ive divine verification and authentication. They bind the proph- 
ets into an organic whole. They come in the great crisis of the 
development of prophecy, and shed their glorious light over the 
prophecies that precede and those that follow. We have not only 



APPENDIX. 39 

therefore the calling and endowment of particular prophets by 
these theophanies, but the calling and endowment of prophetic 
chiefs to originate and perpetuate a succession of prophets with 
an organic system of prophecy. 

" We do not find these theophanies in connection with every 
prophet, but only with the greatest prophets, the reformers of 
their age. It is possible that other prophets were also called by 
theophanies which they have not described to us. But this is 
improbable. It was, indeed, unnecessary. Theophanies are to 
initiate religious movements and mark the stages of their de- 
velopment, but are not the constant feature of prophecy. Ordi- 
narily Hebrew prophecy comes from prophets who have the 
internal subjective assurance of the truth of God and their com- 
mission to declare it. But in all cases of objective, as well as 
subjective assurance, the prophet's powers are taxed to the 
utmost to give expression, in the human forms of his own nature 
and surroundings, to the divine ideas that have taken possession 
of him." (Extract from Briggs' Messianic Prophecy^ Charles Scrib- 
ner's Sons, pp. 20-21.) 



VI. 



THE EPIC OF THE FALL OF MAN. 

" The earlier chapters of Genesis contain a series of brief, sim- 
ple, and charming stories of the origin and early history of man- 
kind, that bear the traces of great antiquity. They were doubt- 
less handed down for many generations as unwritten tradition 
ere they were committed to writing by the sacred writers. They 
passed through a series of editions, until at last they were com- 
pacted in that unique collection of inspired Scripture which we 
call the book of Genesis. The literary beauties of these stories 
have been recognized since Herder, by those who have studied 
the Scriptures with their aesthetic taste. Poetic features have 
been noticed by a number of scholars, but, so far as we know, no 
one has previously observed that they are a series of real poems. 
It was the good fortune of the author to make this discovery. 
Annual work upon these passages with his classes led him grad- 
ually towards it. He first noted a number of striking instances of 



40 APPENDIX. 

parallelism of lines here and there, and thus detected snatches of 
poetry in several passages. These continued to enlarge from year 
to year, until he was constrained to ask the question, how much 
real poetry there was in these ancient stories, and to apply the 
tests of poetic composition to the entire series. The first pas- 
sage to disclose itself as poetry was the Elohistic narrative of the 
creation. This proved to be a poem of six strophes, with re- 
frains. The lines are pentameters, measured by five beats of the 
word accent, with the caesura dividing the lines into two sec- 
tions 

" All the characteristic features of Hebrew poetry are clearly 

manifested in the poem This led us to examine the Elohistic 

narrative of the flood, and it proved to be a poem of the same 
essential structure as the Elohistic story of the creation. 

" We next examined the Jehovisric narrative of the temptation 
and fall, and found it to be a poem of an entirely different struct- 
ure from the poems of the Elohist. The lines of this poem are 
trimeters, and the strophes are regularly composed of fourteen 
lines each. We then examined the Jehovistic story of the flood, 
and found that it was a poem of the same structure as the Jeho- 
vistic poem of the fall. The stories of Cain and Abel, and the 
dispersion of the nations from Babel, resolved themselves into 
the same poetical structure. And thus it has become manifest 
that the earlier chapters of Genesis are a series of real poems, 
which have passed through the hands of several editors in the 
earlier collections of the Elohist and Jehovist, until at last they 
were compacted by the redactor of the Hexateuch into their 
present form. 

" If it be thought surprising that the poetical structure of these 
poems has so long been hidden from Hebrew scholars, it is suffi- 
cient to mention that Bishop Louth, in the middle of the last 
century, was the first to discover and to unfold the essential 
principle of Hebrew poetry, namely, the parallelism of lines, and 
to show that the prophecies of the book of Isaiah were chiefly 
poetry. From time to time, during the past century, a large 
number of poetical extracts have been discovered in the historical 
books, as well as in the prophetical literature. The great ma- 
jority of scholars have studied the Old Testament in the interests 
of dogma, or else of grammatical, historical, or practical exegesis. 
Very few have studied the literary features of the Old Testa- 



APPENDIX. 41 

ment. The structure of the Hebrew strophe and the measure- 
ment of the lines of Hebrew poetry are known to comparatively 
few Hebrew scholars 

" The poem of the Fall of Man exhibits the several features of 
Hebrew poetry. 

" (i). The lines show all the various features of parallelism 
that are found in other Hebrew poetry, synonymous, antitheti- 
cal, and progressive, and the several varieties of these 

(See Briggs' Biblical Study, p. 264, seq^ 

" (2). The lines are trimeters, with the exception of a very few 
broken lines, which are shortened in order to a pause in the 
thought, in accordance with the frequent usage of all Hebrew 
poetry of this measurement. The trimeters of Hebrew poetry 
are composed of three beats of the word accent. The Hebrew 
poet has the power of combining two or more short words by a 
makkeph under one word accent. (See Briggs' Biblical Study, 
p. 279, seq?) 

" (3). The poem has strophical organization. It is composed 
of ten strophes of fourteen lines each. These are arranged in 
two groups. The first group is composed of four strophes, ar- 
ranged on the principle of strophe and anti-strophe. The second 
is composed of two sets of three strophes each. The second set 
is balanced against the first set. The ten strophes are equal in 
the number of the lines. There are fourteen lines to each 
strophe. These strophes are alwaj^s divided into two parts, but 
there is a considerable variety in the inter-relation of these 
parts 

" (4). There are a considerable number of archaic words which 
belong to the language of Hebrew poetry." (Extract from article 
on The Poem of the Fall of Man, in the Reformed Quarterly 
Review, April, 1886. See also Briggs' Messianic Prophecy, p. 74.) 



vn. 



THE POEM OF THE CREATION. 



** The first chapter of the Bible gives a representation of the 
creation of the world. This has been studied for ages by all 



42 APPENDIX. 

classes and conditions of men. It has been justly admired for 
its simplicity, picturesqueness, and sublimity of style. It is a 
masterpiece of literature as well as of religious conception. In 
our century it has been the chief battle-ground between science 
and religion. Theologians have sought in it the mysteries of 
the origin of the universe, and the order and time of the work 
of creation. Men of science have sought in it a reflection of the 
facts that have been discovered in the history of the rocks and 
the stars. The strife of theologians and scientists has made this 
chapter — which is one of the most precious gems of Biblical 
literature — a crux inter pretmn, that is a means of torture to the 
Biblical scholar who is forced to reconcile the claims of dogma 
with the claims of science, and yet maintain his integrity as an 
interpreter of Scripture. 

" So far as the questions between science and dogma are con- 
cerned, the candid scholar should admit that the contest is un- 
decided. The interpreter of Scripture, w^ho is neither a scientist 
nor a dogmatist, ought to see in this first chapter of Genesis a 
magnificent piece of literature, the grandest representation of 
the most important of all events, the origin of the world and 
man, which these combatants are doing their best to tear in 
pieces and patch together in their dogmatic theories and their 
scientific conjectures. The chief error in the use that is ordi- 
narily made of the first chapter of Genesis is a mistake as to the 
point of view and scope of the representation, together with a 
neglect of its literary form. It has been generally held that the 
author designs to give us the doctrine of the creation of the uni- 
verse in a simple prose narrative, stating the creations as they 
occurred day after day in their orderly succession until the whole 
universe was completed with all its contents in six days. Science 
has determined the great outlines of the history of the heavens 
and the earth, in the study of the stars and the rocks and the 
forces of nature. The problem has been to compare these two 
representations and see how far there is agreement, and how far 
there may be difference and disagreement. 

" But the author of the first chapter of Genesis does not propose 
to give us a history of the creation of the ujiiverse out of nothing. 
He represents in a few graphic touches the origination of the 
beautiful organism of our earth and heaven out of a primeval 
chaos. He does not propose to give us a narrative of the method 



APPENDIX. 43 

of the origination of all things, but to describe the appearance of 
certain great classes of objects in their appointed place in this 
beautiful organism. He does not give us a prose history or a 
prose treatise of creation, but he presents us with a poem of the 
creation, a graphic and popular delineation of the genesis of the 
most excellent organism of our earth and heaven, with their con- 
tents ; as each order steps forth in obedience to the command of 
the Almighty Chief; and takes its place in its appointed ranks 
in the host of God, Our Poem of the Creation rises above the 
strifes of theologians and men of science, and appeals to the 
aesthetic taste and imagination of the people of God in all lands 
and in all times. 

" The Poem of the Creation has all of the characteristic fea- 
tures of Hebrew poetry, (i). T^x^ feature of parallelism which 
Hebrew poetry shares with the Assyrian and ancient Akkadian, 
is characteristic of our poem in its varied forms of synonym, 
antithesis, and synthesis 

" (2). The measurement of lines by words or word accents is 
as even and regular in our poem as in the best specimens of 
Hebrew poetry. It has five poetic accents with the caesura- 
like pause between the three and the two, or the two and the 
three, which is characteristic of all poems of this number of 
accents 

" (3). It has a considerable number of archaic words, such as 
we find elsewhere only in poetry 

" (4). It has strophical organization. It is composed of six 
strophes or stanzas, which are indicated by the refrain, 'And 
evening came and morning came,' varying only in the number 
of the day. These strophes, while they do not have exactly 
the same number of lines, vary within definite limits, e. g., 
strophes I. and II. have seven lines each and the refrain ; strophes 
HI., IV., and V. have ten lines each and a refrain. The last 
strophe, the VI., has twenty lines and a refrain — or, in other 
words, is a strophe with a double refrain — such as we find, for ex- 
ample, in the allegory of the vine in the LXXX. Psalm.* 

" (5). There are certain catch-words, or secondary refrains, 
also characteristic of Hebrew poetry, especially in the Song of 
Songs and Hosea, e. g. : (i) And God said, which begins each 



^ See Brings' Biblical Study, p. 277. 



44 APPENDIX. 

item of Creation in its turn. (2) And it became so. (3) And 
God saw that it was excellent. 

" (6). Our Poem em. ploys poetic license in the use of archaic 
endings of suffixes and cases to soften the transition from word 
to word and make the movement more flowing. This is also 
to be noted in the order of the arrangement of the words in the 
lines 

" (7). The language and style are simple, graphic, and ornate, 
such as we find everywhere in poetry, but are regarded as un- 
usual and especially rhetorical in prose. 

" (8). There is a simple and beautiful order of thought which 
harmonizes in the several strophes : God speaks, the creature 
comes forth in obedience, the Creator expresses his delight in 
his creature. The Creator then works with the creature and 
assigns its place and functions. The day's work closes with its 
evening; and the break of the morning prepares for another 
day's work. All this gives a monotonous character to the story 
if it be regarded as prose, but it is in exact correspondence with 
the characteristic parallelism of Hebrew poetry, which extends 
not only to the lines of the strophe, but also to the correspond- 
ence of strophe with strophe in the greater and grander harmo- 
nies of the poem as a whole. These eight characteristics of 
the first chapter of Genesis are all poetical characteristics, and 
we make bold to say that there is no piece of poetry in the 
Bible which can make greater claims than this to be regarded as 
Poetry." (Extract from article on the Hebrew Poem of the Crea- 
tion, in the Old Testai7tent Student, April, 1884. See also Briggs' 
Messianic Prophecy, p. (iZ^ 



VIII. 

THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL EVIDENCES OF INSPIRATION. 

" Another fault of the older apologetic was in laying too much 
stress upon the external evidence and in neglecting the internal 
evidence for the inspiration and the canonicity of Scripture. 
The Roman Catholic Church bases the authority of the Scrip- 
tures on the authority of the Church. The Reformers rejected 



Appendi:^. 45 

this external authority and found the evidences for the Scrip- 
tures in the Scriptures themselves, in the voice of the living God 
speaking to the believer in them and through them. As Luther 
said, "the Church cannot give any more authority or power 
than it has of itself. A council cannot make that to be of Scrip- 
ture which is not by nature of Scripture."* The later Reformed 
and Lutheran scholastics abandoned the position of the Re- 
formers and fell back upon the external evidence of tradition in 
the synagogue and the church. In this they committed a sad 
blunder, which greatly injured the evidences for the inspiration 
and the canonicity of the Bible. Recent criticisms have weakened 
this line of evidence and given us something much better in its 
place. They have revived the views of the Reformers and the 
Puritans and have strengthened the lines of the internal evi- 
dences. Here, again, the order of evidence has been changed. 
We do not first prove canonicity, and then the inspiration of 
the Scriptures, but the reverse : we first prove the inspiration of 
the Scriptures, and then the canonicity is a matter of course. 

" The traditional evidence also overestimated the external au- 
thority of the Bible, in accordance with the familiar saying that 
the Bible, the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants. This 
saying is, however, a caricature of the Protestant position. The 
Protestant religion is the religion of Jesus Christ, as He is re- 
vealed to us in the Bible. The Reformers recognized the living 
God, the risen and reigning Christ, in the Bible ; and they re- 
garded the Scriptures as a means of grace to bring Christ to us 
and to bring us to Christ. The later theology neglected the doc- 
trine of the Scriptures as a means of grace, and laid undue stress 
on the doctrine of their inspiration. It substituted the authority 
of the external word of the letter of Scripture, for the internal 
word of the Master of the Scripture. Recent criticisms have in 
part overcome this fault. They have pointed out the fault 
of building our faith on a book, instead of the living God and 
Saviour. They have called more attention to the God of the 
Old Testament and the Christ of the New Testament as the very 
substance, the light and glory of the Bible." (Extract from 
Briggs' Whither? 1889, Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 280, 281.) 



* Disputatio exc. theolog. Joh. Eccii. et Lutheri hist.y III., p. 129, seq. 



BIBLICAL STUDY. 



BIBLICAL STUDY. Its Principles, Methods, and History. B) 
CHARLES A. BRIGGS, D.D., Professor of Hebrew and 
Cognate Languages in Union Theological Seminary. Crown 
8vo, $2.50. 

The author has aimed to present a guide to Biblical Study for the 
Intelligent layman as well as the theological student and minister of 
the Gospel. At the same time a sketch of the entire history of each 
department of Biblical Study has been given, the stages of its develop- 
ment are traced, the normal is discriminated from the abnormal, and 
the whole is rooted in the methods of Christ and His Apostles. 

THE BOSTON ADVERTISER.— "The principles, methods, and history of 
Biblical study are very fully considered, and it is one of the best works of its Mnd 
In the language, if not the only book wherein the modem methods of the study 
of the Bible are entered into, apart from direct theological teaching." 

THE LONDON SPECTATOR.— "Dr. Briggs' bookis one of much value, not the 
less to be esteemed because of the moderate compass Into which its mass of in- 
formation has been compressed." 

MESSIANIC PROPHECY. The Prediction of the Fulfilment of 
Redemption through the Messiah. A Critical Study of the 
Messianic Passages of the Old Testament in the Order of 
their Development. By CHARLES A. BRIGGS, D.D., Pro- 
fessor of Hebrew and the Cognate Languages In the Union 
Vheological Seminary. Crown 8vo, $2.50. 

la this work the author develops and traces "the prediction of 
the fulfilment of redemption through the Messiah " through the whole 
series of Messianic passages and prophecies in the Old Testament. 
Beginning with the first vague intimations of the great central thought 
of redemption he arrays one prophecy after another ; indicating clearly 
the general condition, mental and spiritual, out of which each prophecy 
arises ; noting the gradual widening, deepening, and clarification of 
the prophecy as it is developed from, one prophet to another to the 
end of the Old Testament canon. 

THE LONDON ACADEMY.— "His new book on Messianic Prophecy is a 
worthy companion to his indispensable text-book on Biblical study. He has pro- 
duced the first English text-book on the subject of Messianic Prophecy which a 
modern teacher can use." 

THE EVANGELIST.— "Messianic Prophecy is a subject of no common inter- 
est, and this book is no ordinary book. It Is, on the contrary, a work of the very 
first order ; the ripe product of years of stvidy upon the highest themes. It ia 
ixegesiB in a master-hand." 



VT*^ 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



THE BEGINNSNGS OF CHRISTIANITY. With a View of tho 

State of the Roman World at the Birth of Christ. By 

QEORGE P. FISHER, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Church 

History in Yale College. 8vo, $2.50. 

THE BOSTON ADVERTISER.— " Prof. Fisher has displayed in this, as inhia 
previous published writings, that catholicity and that calm judicial quality of 
mind which are so indispensable to a true historical critic." 

THE EXAMINER. — "The volume is not a dry repetition of well-lmown facts. 
It bears the marks of original research. Every page glows with freshness of 
material and choiceness of diction." 

THE EVANGELIST.— "The volume contains an amount of information that 
makes it one of the most useful of treatises for a student In philosophy and 
theology, and must secure for it a place in his library as a standard authority." 

HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. By CEORCE P. 
FISHER, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History in 
Yale University. 8vo, with numerous maps, 83.50. 

This work is in several respects notable. It gives an able presenta- 
tion of the subject in a single volume, thus supplying the need of a 
complete and at the same time condensed survey of Church History. 
It will also be found much broader and more comprehensive than other 
books of the kind. The following will indicate its aim and scope. 

FROM THE PREFACE.— "There are two particulars in which I have sought 
to make the narrative specially serviceable. In the first place the attempt has 
been made to exhibit fully the relations of the history of Christianity and of the 
Church to contemporaneous secular history. * « * i have tried to bring out 
more distinctly than is usually done the interaction of events and changes in the 
political sphere, with the phenomena which belong more strictly to the ecclesiasti- 
cal and religious province. In the second place it has seemed to me possible to 
present a tolerably complete survey of the history of theological doctrine. * « » 

" It has appeared to me better to express frankly the conclusions to which my 
investigations have led me, on a variety of topics where differences of opinion 
exist, than to take refuge in ambiguity or silence. Something of the dispassionate 
temper of an onlooker may be expected to result from historical studies If long 
pursued ; nor is this an evil. If there is kept alive a warm sympathy with the spirit 
of holiness and love, wherever it is manliest. 

"As this book is designed not 'for technical students exclusively, but for intel- 
ligent readejs generally, the temptation to enter into extended and minute discus* 
Bions on perplexed or controverted topics has been resisted." 



{PRICE THIRTY CENTS.'] 



BIBLICAL HISTORY 



A LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE OPENING OF THE 

TERM OF THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 

NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 19, 1889 



WITH AN APPENDIX 



BY 

CHARLES AUGUSTUS BRIGGS, D.D. 

DAVENPORT PROFESSOR OF HEBREW AND THE COGNATE LANGUAGES IN THE 
UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEW YORK. 



NEW YORK 
CHABLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1889 




IMPORTANT TO CIvKROYIvlKN. 

^V^HITHER? 

A THEOLOGICAL QUESTION FOR THE TIMES. 

By CHARLES AUGUSTUS BRIGGS, D.D., 
Professor in the Union Theological Seminary ^ New Yorh City. 

1 VOLUME, CaOWN 8vo. PRICE, $1.75. 

contents. 
Drifting— Orthodoxy— Mistaken Attitudes — Change of 
Base — Excesses — Failures — Departures — Perplexities 
— Progress in Theology— Christian Union. 

Dr. Briggs' book is bold, radical, almost startling. It is the product 
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and especially of the authors of the Westminster Standards. The work 
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facts and arguments which every one interested in this question must 
heed. The work, however, has a far wider scope. The author's main 
contention is that all Christian denominations have drifted from their 
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enough. The time has come for the reconstruction of theology, of 
polity, of worship, and of Christian life and work. The drift in the 
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" The book comes to us fulfilling all anticipations. Interesting as a 
novel, almost elegant in its language, clear in its expression, marvel- 
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"A work that should be read by all who are interested in religious 
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spirit, and the result of his labors should have a place in every theolog- 
ical library." — Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. 

"It is a remarkable work and is sure to receive attention." — The 

Nation. 

SUPPLIED TO CLERGYMEN AT SPECIAL NET RATES. 

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